The Holy Ascension Orthodox Mission was founded about four years ago in Mt. Pleasant, SC, just north of the city of Charleston. Early on we found it necessary to provide a very brief introduction to Orthodox Church history and faith, in order to introduce newcomers to a Church they had barely heard of (so it is with Orthodoxy in much of the South). The brochure we published is in two parts, the first of which appears here. The next column for “Life in Christ” will include the section on doctrine. This is a very superficial overview. I offer it, nevertheless, with the hope that some parishes in a similar situation might find it useful—and will make whatever corrections, additions and other changes they feel appropriate.
WHAT IS THE ORTHODOX CHURCH ? (I)
A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The Orthodox Church is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus Christ and His apostles. It is organically and historically the same Church that came fully into being at Pentecost (Acts 2). Today, the Orthodox constitute the second largest Christian body in the world. Some 200 million people identify themselves as “Orthodox,” most of whom live in Russia, Greece, Romania and other eastern European countries, as well as throughout the Middle East. Approximately 4 million Orthodox live in the United States, concentrated primarily in the Northeast, Midwest and California.
Long known as “Eastern Orthodoxy,” the Orthodox faith has established itself throughout the world, in North America, Africa, Australia and Western Europe. Small groups exist as well in Asia and South America. This dispersion or “diaspora” of Orthodox peoples intensified during the 20th century, particularly in the wake of the Russian revolution of 1917. Russian missionaries were present in Alaska from 1794, however, and Greek communities appeared in American port cities from about the same period.
Orthodox parishes tend to be identified and organized according to the language in which services are celebrated and the national identity of parishioners. Thus they have come to be known as “Greek Orthodox,” “Russian Orthodox,” etc. While the Greek Orthodox are the most numerous in the United States, their parishes number many “converts”: people who have entered the Orthodox Church from some other (or no) faith tradition. The same is true with the other two major Orthodox bodies, the Antiochian Archdiocese and the Orthodox Church in America. The latter was formed in 1970, by bringing together under common episcopal leadership Orthodox of Russian, Romanian, Albanian and Bulgarian origin. There are as well many Orthodox with Ukrainian, Carpatho-Russian and other Eastern European roots, together with groups of “Oriental Orthodox,” including Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians and Syrians. Whatever their ethnic and linguistic background, all Eastern Orthodox Christians are in full communion with each other, insofar as their bishops are “canonically” recognized as standing in apostolic succession. In the United States, those bishops are joined in the “Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas” (SCOBA).
During the first millennium of the Church’s existence there was more or less unbroken unity among different groups of Christians. All were formally united in the one, undivided Body of Christ, although various groups and individuals separated themselves from that Body by teaching “heresies” (literally, “differing opinions”; but the term signifies teachings that distort revealed Truth). The earliest “apostolic” age (first century AD) was quickly followed by an age of severe persecution that ended only with the conversion to Christian faith of the Emperor Constantine after 313. From that time on, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Gradually there developed five principal centers (“patriarchates”) of Christian life: Jerusalem, Antioch (in Syria), Alexandria (in Egypt), Rome and Constantinople (Istanbul), each of which understood itself to be in organic unity with all of the others.
Growing theological and political disputes between the bishops of Rome and those of other patriarchates, however, led to a tragic split between “East” and “West,” usually dated from 1054, with mutual excommunications between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople. From that time on, the separation between Rome and the other patriarchates deepened, and that separation continues today. Presently the Orthodox are engaged in bilateral and other “ecumenical” dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant confessions, not to seek some kind of compromise in doctrine and polity, but with the hope of leading those bodies back to confession and celebration of the ancient and traditional Apostolic Faith.